Always
by Vivian Dahl
Summary: Strong PG - 13. Ginny's first love is thought to be dead, and Harry's the best runner up a girl could ask for, but what happens when Draco reappears? Ginny must decide between the man she loved, and the man who stayed.


Chapter One - Intervention and forgetting  
  
She sat and waited for their speech, the one she knew must be coming. After all, there were precious few reasons they asked to speak with her privately in the common room. The three looked slightly uncomfortable, but no one spoke. She waited a bit longer. There was no way that this meeting had no message and/or moral. Finally, Hermione began.  
  
"Ginny, you know we would never say or do anything to purposely upset you, but it's gotten out of hand." she paused here, and waited for the boy's support of this statement. When none came, she kept talking. " It's been a month. We all know how you thought you ….you….love (she nearly spit out the word) - loved him, but you didn't, and you found out that he was just a bastard."  
  
"And we knew that since we were eleven!" Ron nearly shouted.   
  
"Don't you dare say that about him." Ginny said calmly, her eyes holding fiery rage.  
  
Harry looked as if he wanted to say something, but said nothing.  
  
"It's just that, he's not worth it. Your nearly seventeen, and you deserve so much more than this!" Hermione said, gesturing with her hand widely.  
  
"We all love you Gin," Harry began slowly, his voice very soft. "And we hate to see you this way. Tell us what we can do, and it's done! We only want you happy."  
  
Ginny nodded swiftly, and wiped away a small tear. She did love the trio, and she knew they were trying to help, it was just that they could never understand, never would understand that losing your first love at sixteen is something that cracks the heart open wide enough for it to show to the outside world. They would never understand that losing him was the most unbearable, most shocking loss of her whole life. And there was no way that they understood that a month of constant crying, of holing up in bed and eating nothing seemed like only a fraction of the mourning she could suffer. She sat for a moment, a no one said nothing in the empty common room. Ginny finally spoke, her body seeming to sit a little straighter with the words.  
  
"I thought that he was it, you know? That he was the one. I thought that as long as he was still here nothing could ever be so bad that I couldn't handle it." Ginny gulped back the memory. "But now he's gone, really gone, and I need to move forward. I love you all, and I cannot thank you enough for what you've done, but right now, I need space. I know that I worry you, but I'm fine, just a little lonely and sad. I know a month is a long time, but I loved him. I'll be fine, just give me a little more time, ok?" she finished, smiling slightly.   
  
Harry watched her thin form stand up, and leave the room softly. He noticed how slowly, how deliberately she moved, where she had once been quick, unable to have patience for much dawdling. He had watched as her appetite faded and her skin go sallow, he had watched pain destroy her. Now, all he could do was wait. Ron spoke first.  
  
"She's a fighter. I know she looks like hell, but she's right, it's only been a month."  
  
"I just worry so much about her." Hermione said.  
  
"We all do, but let's give it time." Harry said softly.  
  
No one said anything, and then, with a torrent of rage Ron hissed.  
  
"I fucking hate Draco Malfoy."  
  
They had dated in secret for a year before he had given her the ring. It had been at dinner, a dinner he had carefully orchestrated. She could still remember every detail of that night. The flowers, and candles, his face smiling broadly, and their dancing for nearly an hour at the Three Broomsticks. It was a school night, so no one they knew was there. Draco had actually driven a muggle car into the wizarding village, a feat she still could not image he had actually gotten away with.   
  
The worst thing was, that nearly a year after that night, she could still remember his whole expression as he said the words that made her heart break. The words that changed everything for them.  
  
"Ginny, I've never loved anyone before, no one, in my whole life. I don't really think there's ever been anyone worth loving, but I think I love you. You're my everything, and I don't know how it happened. What I'm trying to say is, right now, were young, but we won't be forever, and I know that when were ready, I want to marry you."  
  
She could see his lips move with every word. She supposed that only something like that could stick in her heart as she sat in her dormitory, supposed that she may never have that again. But finally, she slipped the silver, sapphire incrusted ring off her finger. She stared at it for a moment, but then, remembering that he was truly gone, threw it into the fire. Ginny Weasley began to forget Draco Malfoy.  
  
A/N - yes, I know, short, but this was supposed to be a prologue my darling readers! Anyway, next chappy is nearly eight pages, so keep reading. Comments and suggestions are welcomed…ok begged for! Pretty please? Thanks. -Tori 


End file.
